Friday before last Claverton and I were having a gentle sail on Pittwater on MB. Heading north off the Basin a large RHIB coming from the north manoeuvred around a slower vessel and was on a collision course with MB. Kids on his bow were watching me as he closed at 30kts+. The driver was looking behind him as he closed to 50 or metres with me screaming and waving at him. He continued to close until he looked around and swerved away, maybe 30-40 metres away at very high speed.
I was shaking minutes later. There was nothing we could do, he was just too fast.

Glad it didn't end in grief....
As if you don't have enough to contend with out on the water without idiots like that.
Just like the road, you can be doing everything right and some clown comes along....

Hi Morningbird

I don't know if this www.safetyquip.com.au/pdMM101/air-horn-eco-blast-rechargeable-alloy-signal-horn/ would have caught the drivers attention over the sound of his engine but we have a couple at work and they are refillable from a hand pump or a compressor and they are quite loud

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..
Hi Morningbird

I don't know if this www.safetyquip.com.au/pdMM101/air-horn-eco-blast-rechargeable-alloy-signal-horn/ would have caught the drivers attention over the sound of his engine but we have a couple at work and they are refillable from a hand pump or a compressor and they are quite loud

Regards Don

Nice compact unit Donk ,like the self inflatable bit as well

VERY loud, local marina using the same one for racing

Hi HG

When we bought them to use to alert the depot staff incase of a fire we decided to try it out

Each morning our mechanic who is a large ex AFL player goes to the toilet at about 8am and stinks the smoko room out

The boss at work quietly took one into the toilet and put the horn over the top of the toilet door and pressed the button

The mechanic to put it madly was quite annoyed and the rest of us were cacking ourselves laughing

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..
Hi HG

When we bought them to use to alert the depot staff incase of a fire we decided to try it out

Each morning our mechanic who is a large ex AFL player goes to the toilet at about 8am and stinks the smoko room out

The boss at work quietly took one into the toilet and put the horn over the top of the toilet door and pressed the button

The mechanic to put it madly was quite annoyed and the rest of us were cacking ourselves laughing

Regards Don

Glad, you and your loved ones did not come to grief!
Pittwater - some says - is safer than PJ.
Last Saturday two huge stink boats drove out of the "no wash" zone doing 15+ knots right along the MHYC racing yachts start line and - put the icing on the cake -
continued smack into the middle of the kids dingy race.
I rest my case Your Honor.

Isn't part of the safety equipment requirements an air horn/whistle/bell? Problem is most people stow their air horn et al, in a cupboard somewhere forgotten below deck, behind their spare gonk perhaps?

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MorningBird said..
Friday before last Claverton and I were having a gentle sail on Pittwater on MB. Heading north off the Basin a large RHIB coming from the north manoeuvred around a slower vessel and was on a collision course with MB. Kids on his bow were watching me as he closed at 30kts+. The driver was looking behind him as he closed to 50 or metres with me screaming and waving at him. He continued to close until he looked around and swerved away, maybe 30-40 metres away at very high speed.
I was shaking minutes later. There was nothing we could do, he was just too fast.

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sirgallivant said..
Glad, you and your loved ones did not come to grief!
Pittwater - some says - is safer than PJ.
Last Saturday two huge stink boats drove out of the "no wash" zone doing 15+ knots right along the MHYC racing yachts start line and - put the icing on the cake -
continued smack into the middle of the kids dingy race.
I rest my case Your Honor.

A big horn would be a good idea. geez the pittwater. so much space, so little traffic and still someone nearly hit you!
The Harbour can be hit and miss. Some of the charter ferries are the worst. Syd ferries are good, the partyboats etc tend to not care alot...

We need to be a bit realistic here. We had maybe 5 seconds from seeing him to him turning away. Maybe another 3 seconds before impact. Even if a horn was in your hand you couldn't have activated it in time. In a cockpit bag it would take over 30 seconds to get it and activate it.
He had two multi hundred horsepower outboards at high power right behind him. Maybe a tactical nuke might have got his attention.
Another second or so and it was dive over the side time.

****.
yeah he wouldn't have heard any horns either i doubt

I've been in a similar situation back in the 70's.

Remember those large very fast off shore speed boats?
Well a mate and I manage to get a berth on one of the smaller tall ships
around at that time and we went out to view the races.

Was a beautiful day with flat seas so the racers were going flat out.
At one point they were going away from us and the skipper decided
to reverse course and head back into Sydney and that we did.

What no one realized was that the race boats had already reached their
turn around point and were on there way BACK!

Yes on their way back going really fast [100 kph plus] and we were
right there in front of them.

My mate and I only had time to look at each other and they were past
just missing at stern and bow.

We agreed later that it had happened so fast that we had had no time to even
think about jumping overboard or anything else before they were past and gone.

With their size, speed and fuel on board it would have been a spectacular explosion!

Never heard anymore about it, so assume everybody just on with it!

Lunatics. They are everywhere.

Huon Aquaculture has recently leased a new boat that is based here at the Port Huon Wharf

She is easy to see but we have been asked to be careful not to sail to close to her as the skipper has limited vision from the bridge and she is a bit to big to mess with

http://www.huonaqua.com.au/about/farm/well-boat/




Regards Don

Its amazing how uncomfortable we get when we have another vessel at high speed on a collision course or even coming into our comfortable sailing zone. I myself get annoyed at another high speed vessel that changes course to come and have a closer look. I try to understand it, all that ocean out there and they have to come right by. Sort of on par with a vehicle tailgating you on a lonely highway, all that road and they sit a few meters behind and wont overtake. Instead you end up with 2 vehicles in close proximity where the likelihood of an accident involving you both increases if some anomaly occurs. But the real odd thing is that we drive down the highway approaching an oncoming vehicle with a closing speed in excess of 200kph and miss each other by 6ft and most of us don't find that uncomfortable.? I suppose it is just what you get use to.

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Jolene said..
Its amazing how uncomfortable we get when we have another vessel at high speed on a collision course or even coming into our comfortable sailing zone. I myself get annoyed at another high speed vessel that changes course to come and have a closer look. I try to understand it, all that ocean out there and they have to come right by. Sort of on par with a vehicle tailgating you on a lonely highway, all that road and they sit a few meters behind and wont overtake. Instead you end up with 2 vehicles in close proximity where the likelihood of an accident involving you both increases if some anomaly occurs. But the real odd thing is that we drive down the highway approaching an oncoming vehicle with a closing speed in excess of 200kph and miss each other by 6ft and most of us don't find that uncomfortable.? I suppose it is just what you get use to.

I put it down to the herd instinct, if there are two boats on the ocean, no matter how far away from land and see each other, the herd instinct says they have to have a squizz at each other.

It's exactly the same if there one car parked in a car park, herd instinct says the next car to arrive will park next to the first.

Cable beach in Broome 1975. A couple of people on the beach. Another small group come down and walk 1 mile up the beach to plonk themselves on the sand 20ft from the earlier arrivals?????????

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MorningBird said..
Cable beach in Broome 1975. A couple of people on the beach. Another small group come down and walk 1 mile up the beach to plonk themselves on the sand 20ft from the earlier arrivals?????????

Classic

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Jolene said..

MorningBird said..
Cable beach in Broome 1975. A couple of people on the beach. Another small group come down and walk 1 mile up the beach to plonk themselves on the sand 20ft from the earlier arrivals?????????

Classic

Told ya, herd instinct ....even back then it was alive and well.

I think your dead right Loose Change, Amazingly I went to Broome in 1975 or maybe 76. Not a whole lot of people around on Cable beach as I remember, Just a couple

I had a similar incident in Upper Middle Harbour many years ago,. In that case the driver turned around to look at a lost hat. They got so close we were drenched by the bow wave.

true.
I've always done the opposite. i guess thats why i love being on the water. you can be in the busiest city in oz and be far from anyone(hopefully.)

Its amazing how people do that. Im the guy that finds a nice quiet spot away from everyone, then someone will come and park right next to me - usually lighting up cigarettes or being noisy, so the whole reason for space goes right out the window. Most people I'm not a fan of.

I must have been nearby Morningbird, coming back from Refuge.

By far the largest problem is the guy who has just got his ticket, and just signed up for his first year syndicate with smartarse boating or similar. They have no real idea, but worst of all, these self entitled with money to burn tossers don't give a Rats.

Still, I've had a similar incident with a 40 something foot Beneteau motoring from RPAYC to Towlers Bay. We were under sail, he cut across our bow with less than 5 metres to spare. When I called him out for being too close he responded "not when you're racing!" his wife called him a tosser for me, and told him to stop showing off for his mates. I simply called him a fornicating tosser, but still never got an apology.

I was out on Pittwater last week heading South near Scotland Island, I was under motor when a bloke in a boat a bigger than mine approached at right angle on my Port side. He was under motor too but had his mainsail up. I expected him to pass behind me but he held course and would have T-boned me had I not swung away. He claimed he was "under sail". Pigs he was.

Collisions and sailboats, unfortunately I have to much experience. I have been smashed into many times by powerboats out of control because the driver wasnt paying attention, drunk or wasted and no idea of how to handle their boat close to another boat. Seems that the you tube generation which watches something on their computer then become an instant expert doesn't translate into reality when they go to operate their boat/jetski. When they crash into you they just leave and your to busy saving your boat to register their details or take photos and they always get away with it. Aluminium tinnie versus minimum weight carbon fiber isn't much of a contest.

I dont have a solution other then avoid, wish I did. The freedom of the ocean gives a perfect opportunity for the lowest level of idiot to exploit their stupidity, I dont have an issue if it only affects them, its when responsible, normal people get taken out the situation becomes tragic.

Keep your eyes open and cameras handy, good luck,
Darryn

Yesterday arvo a 12 feet tinny passed my mooring at Echo Point doing max speed his 15hp motor could do, between the boats!!! while l was scrubbing the hull. He was going all the way to the other side of Gladesville bridge, and there is a 'no wash zone'.
This morning he did the same twice, one up second time back with an infant on his lap! At least the child was wearing a cheap life west. I got a length of floating rope...

I ride bikes, so l am pretty clued up how to survive on the road, thinking ahead, watching for other peoples' negligence or mistakes constantly. I think l know where they could come from and how. It is a "limited environment" limited to the roads.
On the water this loonies could come literally from everywhere on the horizontal plane. Nobody can figure out the possible next movement of a fast stink boat.

I had acquaintances - driving a power boat - who made fun scaring, spraying other boaters, sailors. I did not go out with them ever again. Later they sold the stinker explaining - it was no fun no more - and bought a hotted up V8 which they crashed big time, uphill, in Maroubra.
Karma has something to do with it, l guess.

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MorningBird said..
Cable beach in Broome 1975. A couple of people on the beach. Another small group come down and walk 1 mile up the beach to plonk themselves on the sand 20ft from the earlier arrivals?????????

My God!! That would have been a LARGE crowd for Broome in 1975

We had 3 Navy Grumman Trackers up there patrolling the north west. About 30 of us based at an oil camp in Broome.
Broome then, about 300 non aboriginal and about 1500 aboriginal. Lots of female backpackers, nurses and teachers and 30 sailors. We had the only pool and bar in town outside the rough pubs. Brilliant place back then and great time had by all.

Old mate of mine pulled into Broome in the mid 70s with a new car and $20,000
Walk out the other side a few weeks later and hitch hiked
Lots of partying

I pulled into Broome mid 1976.

There were 3 cars in the main street and 2 of those belonged to our group.

The third may have been a local!